“Oh, he’s capable. He loves his family dearly.”
“Family is different. That sort of love is something that starts as a baby and grows as you grow. Loving a spouse is an emotional tie—an investment that some men have trouble making. But you’ve not known this man for that long, Chrissy. He might decide he doesn’t want to live without you.”
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Christina sighed. “I don’t know what to do. Lex says he cares about me, but he says that love isn’t for him. And I’m scared. Scared that I’m getting myself into another hopeless situation. I groveled at Mike’s feet for four long years. I did everything to make him see how much I cared—how much I wanted the two of us to be a real family—but in the end he didn’t care one whit. I’m not about to humiliate myself like that again. Not for any man.”
Olivia’s fingers squeezed her shoulder. “Maybe this Lex Saddler isn’t just any man.”
Chapter Nine
Throughout the long drive back to the Sandbur, Christina thought plenty about Olivia’s words. Lex Saddler really wasn’t just any man. From what she could see, he wasn’t the sort who lied and manipulated. He was decent and honest and hardworking. So what was the matter with her? Why wasn’t she breaking her neck to jump into his arms and enslave him with her feminine charms?
Because she didn’t want him to love just her body. She wanted him to love her. Totally. Completely. She wanted a man who would give her children, remain at her side even after she was wrinkled and gray. If Lex couldn’t be that man, then she’d have to move on and forget him.
In spite of her miserable thoughts, though, her heart began to sing the moment she parked near the ranch house and spotted Lex walking across the lawn to greet her.
“I see you kept your promise and made it back safely,” he said with a smile, then lowered his head and placed a swift kiss on her cheek. “Do you have bags?”
“One. In the backseat.”
He fetched the bag, and Christina walked beside him as they headed to the house.
“So how did things go?” he asked. “No trouble?”
“No trouble,” she said while her hungry eyes kept creeping over to his profile. Tonight he was dressed in a pair of old jeans and a faded red T-shirt. The sight of his bare arms reminded her even more of his wiry strength and how it had felt to have those arms wrapped tightly around her.
“I’m glad,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”
By now they’d reached the back entrance to the house. The porch light hanging to the left of the door shed a faint pool of light on his grinning face.
God help her, but just looking at him left her breathless and longing to kiss him and never stop. “And I’ve missed you, too,” she said softly, then inclined her head toward the door. “Let’s go in, and I’ll catch you up on what I’ve learned.”
When they entered the kitchen, she spotted Cook sitting at the long pine table, sipping from a tall iced glass.
“Good to see you back, young lady,” Cook greeted her, with a smile. “Want to join me and Lex with something to drink?”
“Give me a minute to freshen up, and I’ll be right back,” Christina told her.
Grabbing her bag from Lex, she raced upstairs to her bedroom. After a quick visit to the bathroom and a hasty brush of her windblown hair, she hurried back down to the kitchen.
Cook patted the bench space next to her. “Sit here, Christina. Lex will get you whatever you’d like.”
Glancing around the room, Christina eased down next to Cook. “Is Geraldine out for the evening?”
“She’ll be gone for the next few days,” Lex said from a spot at the cabinet counter. “Nicci had to go to a medical convention in Houston, and she wanted Mother to accompany her. They hardly get to spend any time together, so Mother agreed to go.”
“I think that’s very nice,” Christina said, while wishing she could have had such a caring, responsible mother. As it was, Retha contacted her daughter in unpredictable spurts. There were times she’d go out of the country for weeks without letting Christina know of her whereabouts. But Lex’s family was different. They were knit together with love. Oh God, why did she have to keep thinking of that word, that emotion?
Lex held up a coffee mug. “Would you like coffee or lemonade or soda?” he asked, then added, with a sly grin, “Whatever my lady desires.”
My lady. Just hearing him say the words, even teasingly, made her heart beat faster. “Coffee would be great.”
While Lex poured the coffee and added cream, Cook said, “We’ve been wondering if you got Paul’s old buddies to tell you anything helpful.”
Before she could make a reply, Lex arrived at the table with the coffee and took a seat next to Christina. His closeness was both sweet and tempting, making it difficult to focus on Cook’s comment.
“I should have called,” Christina said. “But since I didn’t have anything concrete to report, I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
Besides that, she didn’t want Lex to think she couldn’t go for two days without hearing his voice. She already felt as though she were wearing her feelings for him on her sleeve. Especially after giving him that melting kiss right before she’d left.
“Did you get to interview the men?” Lex asked.
“Two of them,” Christina answered. “After Red’s very young wife told me where to find him, I caught up to him on the golf course. I’m not sure he appreciated me showing up and interrupting his game. But he was polite enough. And I found Harve at his downtown office and didn’t have any problem getting in to see him.”
“What did you think about them?”
Shrugging, Christina took a careful sip from the steaming mug. “I’m not certain, but my hunch tells me that Red and Harve did nothing to harm your father.”
Lex looked utterly surprised by her announcement. “Why would you think that?” he asked, with dismay. “Both Red and Harve lost almost everything they had in divorce battles. They both needed money and more than likely committed insider trading.”
Christina shook her head. “That doesn’t make them killers. And remember—I said this is just my hunch,” she reminded him. “I’ve got to find proof before I can come to any sort of conclusion about this case.”
“Forget about the stock thing,” Lex countered. “There’s the pertinent fact that the men could have taken Dad to Mustang Island or even Aransas Pass for medical help. Instead, they wasted precious time taking him back to Corpus! They waited about calling the Coast Guard! Shall I go on?”
“I’m aware of all of that, Lex. And, yes, it does look suspicious. But when people are in shock, they don’t always do the right thing. It’s my job to keep an open mind to anything and everything. And I’m not ruling Harve and Red out yet. Are they thieves? It smells like they are. Murderers? I’m not sure.”
“Wait a minute,” Cook interjected. “You haven’t mentioned anything about that dried-up, scrawny Lawrence. What about him?”
Sighing, Christina said, “The maid said he still hadn’t returned from his business trip. But I’m pretty sure he’s having the house help lie for him. I think he is home and is doing everything he can to avoid talking with me.”
“The little bastard,” Cook muttered.
Lex clucked his tongue in an admonishing way at the older woman, and Christina could hardly keep from smiling at the two. If Lex could only love her a fraction as much as he loved Hattie, then she’d be a cherished woman for the rest of her life.
Cook scowled at him. “Well,” she reasoned, “he was a cold little man, but Paul went out of his way to include him in parties and outings. I never could cozy up to him myself. He’d come back here to the kitchen, wanting a certain type of cup or glass. Or he’d want hot tea when everyone else was drinking iced—as though he was special or something. I remember Paul saying the man was a hypochondriac. Ran to the doctor for every little ache. I think he felt sorry for him.”
“So you’re thinking Lawrence is hiding from you because he
might know more than what he told the police?” Lex asked Christina.
“We’ll see. I’ve got someone staking out his house. If he’s seen, I’ll know about it. And when he does show his face he’ll have to answer a few questions,” she told him.
Lex was about to ask her another question when his cell phone rang. He answered it immediately, uttered a few short words, then snapped it shut. As he rose to his feet, he said, “I’m sorry, Christina. That was Matt. A buyer that was supposed to be here this morning has arrived tonight. He’s over at the Sanchez guesthouse, and I’ve got to go welcome him. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Christina nodded that she understood. “I have plenty of work to keep me busy.”
He tossed her an apologetic smile, then strode quickly out of the room.
As Christina watched him disappear, Cook said, “Lex has been worried about you.”
Surprised, Christina turned her gaze on the older woman. “Did he tell you that?”
“Not in those exact words. But I could tell.”
The idea that Lex had expressed any sort of concern about her to Cook plucked at Christina’s heartstrings. “Lex cares about people.”
Cook grunted with amusement. “Some more than others.”
Afraid to analyze what Cook meant by that, Christina sipped her coffee and let a few moments slip by before she said, “Cook, you probably know Lex better than anyone here outside of his family. Why do you think he’s never married?”
Cook’s dark eyes softened as she looked at Christina. “That’s hard to say. When he was younger, he used to tell me that he never knew if the girls liked him just for him or for his money. It ain’t no secret that many a woman in these parts would have liked to set up camp here in the Saddler house. Can’t blame any of ’em for trying, though. A wife of his wouldn’t have to want for anything.”
“No. I expect not,” Christina thoughtfully agreed. She’d had her own problems with guys viewing her as a money machine. But she’d learned to spot the users, and no doubt Lex had, too. “But Lex is a smart guy. At his age, I’m sure he can spot a woman like that a mile away.”
“Sure he can. That ain’t the reason now.”
“What is?” Christina persisted.
“I ain’t sure. I expect his daddy dyin’ had something to do with it. After Paul left us, Lex wasn’t the same. Oh, don’t get me wrong. He still liked the ladies, and they all seemed to fall in love with him, but he never looked at them in a serious way. Instead, he threw himself into runnin’ the ranch. That’s all that seemed to matter to him.” A wan smile touched her red lips as she reached over and patted the top of Christina’s hand. “A farmer has to invest a lot of time and work into makin’ a crop grow. It’s the same way with love. Lex just never took the time to plant the seed.”
And if he planted the seed with her, would it grow? Christina wondered. Or would it wither and die, the way her parents’ love had died?
Sighing, Christina rose from the table and carried her coffee cup over to the sink. “Thank you for the coffee, Cook. And the conversation. Now I’d better get to work.”
“Work! Tonight? You just got here.”
Nodding, Christina started out of the room. “I feel as though I’m getting closer to finding some sort of clue to pull this case together. I’ve got to keep searching.”
She was about to push through the doors, when Cook said, “Christina, I guess you know that Lex is like a son to me.”
Pausing, she looked back at the table, where Cook was still sitting. “Yes. That’s always been obvious to me.”
“I want him to be happy,” she said. “And I believe you could make him happy, if you were so minded to.”
Cook’s words were so unexpected, so touching, that Christina’s eyes stung with tears and her voice turned husky. “Thank you for saying that, Hattie.”
Cook winked. “Don’t thank me. Just remember what I said.”
Almost two hours later, Christina was sitting on the floor in her makeshift office, sifting through the last of the manila files, when Lex knocked lightly on the open door.
“I saw the light from the hallway and figured you were still working. Don’t you think you should put that stuff away and rest? All of this will still be waiting here for you tomorrow,” he reasoned.
Instead of agreeing to quit for the night, Christina held up a sheet of paper and motioned for him to join her. “Come here. I want to show you something.”
He grinned. “Forget the paper. I’m still waiting on my hello kiss.”
“You’ll have to wait a little longer. I think I’ve found something.”
Curious now, he walked over to where she sat and peered over her shoulder at the paper she was holding.
“What is this?” he asked.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Your father scribbled some sort of list on this company stationery. Do you recognize the woman’s name listed at the top?”
“Edie Milton,” Lex voiced out loud. “Hmm. That sounds familiar.”
“Apparently, your father had some sort of connection to this woman,” Christina said.
He snapped his fingers. “I remember. She was secretary to Coastal Oil’s CEO at the time Dad worked there.”
She looked at him hopefully. “What about now? Is she still there?”
“No. About a year after Dad died, she was killed in a car accident. Her brakes failed, and she crashed into the back of a semitruck.”
Christina’s interest was piqued even more. “Do you have any idea why Paul would have put her name on a list?”
Shaking his head, Lex began to read the list out loud. “Edie Milton, Red’s office, Lawrence’s broker, Harve’s wife, bank statements, photocopies, tape recorder with a question mark. I wonder what this means at the bottom of the page? See disk.”
Christina glanced over her shoulder, and as her eyes met his, she could see that only a part of his mind was focused on the paper in her hand. The hungry, smoldering lights that flickered in the brown depths fed her need to be closer, to feel the warmth and the comfort of his arms around her.
Clearing her throat, she said, “That’s what I was about to ask you. If he meant a computer disk, I’ve not found any of them in these boxes. Is this absolutely all your father’s things?”
His thumb and forefinger cradled his chin as he glanced at the mounds of papers and other articles that Christina had already sifted through. “Well, Mom gave Dad a desk and computer for a wedding anniversary gift one year. After he died, I guess the sentimental attachment made it difficult for her to keep using them. But she didn’t want to get rid of them, either, so she had us store the desk away in the attic and the computer in a downstairs closet. She’d planned one day to go through the computer, just to see if there were any photos or things on there that the family might want. But that day has never come. Nicci mentioned the computer to her not long ago, and she promised to check it out. But you see how it is with Mom. Her plate is always full.”
“Yes, I do see. But I wonder why Geraldine didn’t mention those things to me,” Christina mused aloud.
Lex shrugged. “She probably figured the stuff was personal, family-type things instead of work matters. Or she might have forgotten. Either way, it doesn’t matter. If you’re game for a little dust and heat, we’ll go up to the attic and see if we can find anything.”
“That would be great. If your father put information on a disk regarding this list, it might shed some light on what was taking place at the company. Especially with the stocks.”
He frowned. “You keep coming back to those damned stocks. Why?”
“Because oftentimes one crime leads to another.”
“That’s what I was trying to tell you in the kitchen. We only have a suspicion that Harve and Red are guilty of insider trading. But if they are, they could be guilty of murder, too.”
“It’s possible. Even though I’m not getting those sorts of vibes from them. We need more information to prove that anythin
g criminal took place. Let’s hope something will turn up in the attic.”
His heavy sigh whispered past her ear, and then his hand wrapped around her arm and tugged her around to face him.
“I’ll take you to the attic in a minute,” he said lowly. “But before we go, I want to talk to you. Not about Dad’s case. About us.”
Her heart shifted into high gear as she forced her eyes to meet his. “Lex, I’m not sure this is the right time.”
“Why? You’re not ready to hear that I’ve been thinking of you night and day?”
The soft huskiness of his voice sprinkled goose bumps across her skin. “Every woman likes to be remembered,” she told him.
“And does every woman also like to be kissed?”
Her gaze landed on the hard curve of his lips, and suddenly her heart was pounding out of control as her body begged to get close to his.
“If the right man is doing the kissing,” she murmured.
“Then maybe you’d better decide for yourself if I’m the right man,” he whispered.
His head bent, and then his lips fastened over hers in a totally dominating kiss. In a matter of seconds, Christina was mindlessly winding her arms around his neck, fitting her body next to his. This connection to Lex was the very thing her heart was longing for, begging for, and she could resist him no more than a rose could resist the hot June sun.
In a matter of seconds, the kiss turned bold and hungry. Christina could feel her body heat skyrocketing, her lungs burning for breath. Sometime during the embrace, his arms had moved around her, crushing her against him in a way that plainly said how much he wanted her.
Her senses were about to dissolve into smoke when he finally tore his lips from hers and began to nuzzle the soft spot behind her ear.
“I’ve never had a woman get in my head the way you have, Christina. You’ve become an important part of my life. Does that mean anything to you?”
Torn by his question, Christina dropped her head and fought to keep her tears at bay. “Of course, it means something to me,” she whispered. “But I—oh, Lex, I don’t want us to start an argument about this tonight. I just got back here.”
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